488 Queries and Answers. 



[This question has been submitted to an entomologist, who 

 has been so kind as to answer as follows : — ] 



The only luminous German insects that I know of are of 

 the genus JLampyris. The British species Zampyris nocti- 

 luca (the common glowworm) abounds in some parts of that 

 country. The males of all the Zamp^rides are winged ; the 

 females only are apterous and grub-like. You will say this 

 is all very vague information, but it is impossible to name an 

 insect positively (" exact " your correspondent says) merely 

 from knowing that it shines by night, and inhabits St. Goar. 

 E. N.D., May c 28. 18 34. 



Do Female Wasps first Swallow, and afterwards Disgorge, the 

 Food they distribute to their Young in the Grub State? — 

 W. H. White. June 6. 1836. 



To what Properties in Nature is it owing that the Stones 

 in Buildings, formed originally of the frailest Materials, gra- 

 dually become indurated by Exposure to the Atmosphere and by 

 Age, and stand the Wear and Tear of Time and Weather every 

 bit as well, in some instances much better, than the hardest and 

 most compact Limestones and Granite ? (p. 379.) — In addition 

 to the fact mentioned by Mr. Hunter (p. 379, 380.) relative 

 to the induration of soft sandstone, I would adduce an excel- 

 lent example of the same effect in the Cathedral of Basle, in 

 Switzerland. The cathedral is wholly built of a soft coarse- 

 grained sandstone, of so deep a red as to resemble long-burned 

 brick. The numerous and delicate ornaments and fine tra- 

 cery on the exterior are in a state of excellent preservation, 

 and present none of the mouldering appearance so common 

 in old cathedrals that are built of stone which, when quarried, 

 Mas much harder than this sandstone. The pavement in the 

 interior is composed of the same material ; and, as almost 

 every slab is a tomb, it is charged with the arms, names, and 

 often statues in low relief, of those who lie below, delicately 

 sculptured in the soft material. Yet, though these sculptures 

 have been worn for ages by the feet of multitudes, they are 

 very little injured ; they still stand out in bold and distinct 

 relief: not an illegible letter, not an untraceable ornament is 

 to be found ; and it is said, and I believe with truth, that they 

 have now grown so hard as not to be in the least degree far- 

 ther worn by the continual tread of thousands ; and that the 

 longer the stone is exposed to the air, the harder it becomes. 

 The cathedral was built in 1019. 



The causes of the different effects of air on stone must be 

 numerous, and the investigation of them excessively difficult. 

 With regard, first, to rocks en masse, if their structure be 

 crystalline, or their composition argillaceous, the effect of the 



